meek-investor

Barbarians at the Gate is the name of the scintillating book that detailed the leveraged buyout of RJR Nabisco in the mid 1980s. It was made into a movie as well and for a long time it was the biggest M&A transaction in the world. I strongly recommend the book, if you have an interest in business. ( or if you like thrillers !)   Take 2 seems to be happening in the goings on with Dell . The resemblance to what happened with RJR Nabisco is uncanny.   The Dell story started with Michael Dell, the founder teaming up with Silver Lake, a private equity firm,  and announcing a bid to take Dell private at $13.65 a share (a 25% premium over the closing price of $ 10.88 prior to this announcement). When rumours of this started to surface in January, people thought it was not a doable deal. Dell after all is a struggling PC maker in an industry which is declining with the onslaught of tablets. In any case its a fiercely competitive and somewhat commoditized industry. Whoev...

We are supposed to diversify our investments, or not putting all eggs into one basket.  This could reduce exposed risk, and in case one investment failed badly, will not affect the overall health of the full portfolio.  Definitely we would not want one bad egg to affect all the eggs in the basket. However, those toxic structured products that were sold before Lehman Brothers' collapse, although having many component companies in their fund structures, did not work this way.  Just one bad egg (Lehman Brothers) and the whole product failed. Same with JP Morgan Asia Confidence Notes.  When we invest money into 4 markets, we hope to diversify.  And if one market fared badly, we do not want it to affect the whole investment.  However, in JP Morgan Asia Confidence Notes's structure, any one market will drag the whole portfolio down.  Since if any one market fall 50%., the trigger event would activate, and does not take in...

Can you build a sustainable business based on providing services for free? Counter-intuitive as it seems, there are people doing just that. And they're making good money. Messes with your head, doesn't it? In this episode of the podcast,  Jane and Roger  discuss various business models based on the notion of giving away work for free or leaving the decision on the level of compensation up to the client. Meanwhile, Jane has launched another new website – all about building conversations around your business, event, charity, whatever. You can find out what she does in more detail over at www.45conversations.com . You can listen to this week's podcast using the player at the top of the post or download it directly here: Business Jazz – 23rd March, 2013 . We're also in iTunes . We'd love it if you subscribed or left some feedback. Business Jazz Players This podcast is a collaboration of people dotted around the world. Most of us have never met each other. It's quit...

I invested $50K into JP Morgan Asia Confidence Notes in June 2008.  I received the first quarterly payout of $937.50 in September 2008. Almost immediately after I received my first quarterly payout, in mid September, Lehman Brothers collapsed.  After that event, the global financial market began a period of extreme volatility and all the stock indices fell sharply. Suddenly, most of the structured products, which were previously promoted and sold as "high returns and low risks" have became hot potatoes and their risks greatly escalated.  On Sep 18, 2008, The Straits Times reported that a structured product sold by DBS, High Notes 5 - with a promised annual return of about 5 per cent, was at great risk and warned that the investors may lose their entire principal in that Lehman-linked product. Subsequently, other structured products have fallen one by one.  News received that another DBS structured products -...

How exactly did JP Morgan Asia Confidence Notes work?  I have thrown away the product brochure.  But I remembered it was something like: JP Morgan Asia Confidence Notes are tied to Singapore, Malaysia, Thailand and Taiwan stock indices and pay 7.5% p.a. coupon fixed on a quarterly basis, but is callable every quarter. Scenario 1 : If the indices go above the initial index values At the quarterly observation date, if all the 4 indices have gone above the initial index values, the bank has the right to "call" the product, i.e., the bank will redeem the product by returning the investors the principal with that quarter's coupon payment.   In more details, the notes would end if the closing levels of all four indices at the observation date - either concurrently or separately on different valuation dates including preceding ones - is higher than their respective initial levels. For example, at observation da...

Let's talk about my experience with the purchase of a structured product.  Of course that was before the collapse of Lehman Brothers, Sep 2008. It was one day in June 2008 when I renewed my fixed deposit at the bank.  That day I learnt that the bank have assigned a "personal banker" to "take care of all my financial matters" with the bank.  This "personal banker" told me that interest rate for FD was too low, and introduced a structured product for better returns. The JP Morgan Asia Confidence Notes has the following structure: 1. Tenure of 2.5 years 2. 7.5% p.a coupon fixed – payable quarterly. 3. Based on Singapore, Malaysia, Thailand and Taiwan Indices movement.  The buffer level for Principal to be affected is 50% of index (index level at start of tenure) for any of the 4 countries.   Meaning one of the indices must fall by 50% (at observation date) for the Principal to be affected. 4. Early cal...

With a set-up like that, you just KNOW you’re in for wacky hijinks!! This week we welcome back an old favorite before she becomes worm food.    At age 77, Lynn Ruth Miller is a renaissance woman who wears many hats. She entertains audiences of all ages with comedy and song. She is living proof that the older you are, the more fun you have.Lynn Ruth is the host on two television programs on public access television, Channel 26 in Pacifica: “ What’s Hot Between The Covers ” (book reviews and interviews in the arts) and “ Paint With Lynn ” (a hands on creative arts series) We are also happy to have, all the way from LA, the fabulous Pat Bishop.   Pat Bishop writes, produces, and directs sketches and other content at Funny Or Die, and performs stand-up across the country. He's super into ginger ale.   So he and Lynn Ruth already have a lot in common! All these wonderful guests, plus your Business regulars Bucky “Chicken Crossin the Road” Sinister, Nato “Stupid Blonde” G...